Ryder Cup: Great golf aside, does baloney ever get a day off? If Michael Jordan’s presence is so inspiring to the U.S. side, as we were again told during Friday’s coverage on ESPN — pure nonsense; the best players in the world would be Ryder Cup-psyched with or without Jordan — why does the U.S. have a losing record with Jordan on site?
The U.S. team wore red, white and blue Friday. Odd, I thought Nike and the sports merchandise cartel had changed our colors to black and white. And, for the Crips, gray.
Nice get by ESPN’s Mike Tirico on Friday, noting that while Englishman Luke Donald plays for the European side, he’s the most local of all. Donald lives in Evanston, Ill. (25 miles from the course). A bunch from the European side live in the States.
Not that anyone from NBC-on-ESPN dare mouth such heresy, but during Friday’s morning round, well into two matches, the worst player on the course, by far, was Tiger Woods.
Nice call from Mark Rolfing, Friday, on a Rory McIlroy chip from about 50 yards from the pin, behind the green: “He hit it a bit heavy, I think.” Ah, the ball went in the hole. It’s live TV, brother. If you just hush up and allow us to watch, you’ll never sound dopey.
It was one thing, Friday, for Tirico to tell us, more than once, that Steve Stricker/Woods vs. Lee Westwood/Nicolas Colsaerts was “on the clock,” but how about telling us how the penalty would have worked? Which team — both? how? — would have been penalized?
Love it when an interview guy/gal doesn’t listen to the answer to his/her question. After Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner won their Friday match — Dufner known for his blank, undemonstrative demeanor — Johnson told Bill Kratzert that the key was “keeping Jason calm.” A funny answer that Kratzert, on to his next question, totally missed.